Moove Part Until in Contact

[Hans Dampf]

Dear all,
Is there an elegant way to move parts in a specific direction until they are in contact with another body?

Essentially I need to press two parts upon each other in force control. However, as they are separated in the beginning, I first need to move them until they touch each other before I can apply a force boundary condition (using Abaqus Standard).

Currently I am first using a displacement boundary condition, but this is one of the most frequent sources of error (with the displacement either beeing too large or too small).
I thought I had even seen a specific command for that purpose, however, I couldn’t find it anymore.

Kind regards
Max

 

[Hans Dampf]

Hi!

For any future readers with similar problems:

The command I was looking for was *CONTACT CONTROLS, APPROACH, however, I couldn't find anything about it in the current Abaqus documentation.
Instead I am now using spring elements to constrain the moving part when approaching in force control.

Kind regards
Max

 

[Mustaine3]

*CONTACT CONTROLS, STABILIZE
would be an option. Have a look at the Keyword Reference Manual for details to this keyword.

Soft springs, global stabilization or the quasi static procedure would also be possible.